The American public is told that their tax dollars do not fund abortion, but this is false. At the federal level, despite measures like the Hyde Amendment, which prohibit federal dollars from paying for abortions, taxpayers still fundabortions in certain instances. “Federal financial participation (FFP) is only available for abortions performed to save the life of the mother or to terminate pregnancies resulting from rape or incest,” a Medicaid spokesperson previously told Live Action News.

But this amounts to more than what it sounds like. According to Medicaid.gov, in 2016 alone, federal dollars were used to pay a total of nearly $50,000 for abortions at the federal level and $31,000 at the state level. However, this figure was down substantially from previous years.

2016 Tax funded abortions via Medicaid Federal and State

Live Action News previously reported that according to national net expenditures published by Medicaid.gov in 2015, taxpayers funded $500,659 for abortions that year under Medicaid assistance programs. Of that total, $327,341 was paid by federal dollars and $173,318 was paid by the states where the abortions were committed.

Medicaid: $500K for abortions, 2015

Americans taxpayers paid even more for abortion in 2014. The net national total of Medicaid program assistance expenditures that year reveals that taxpayers paid $1,204,949 for abortions, with $604,897 picked up federally and $600,052 picked up by taxpayers within the states.

17 states have a policy that directs Medicaid to pay for all or most medically necessary abortions.

5 of these states provide such funds voluntarily.

12 of these states do so pursuant to a court order.

Previous Live Action News reports indicate that, in several states including New Mexico, taxpayers are forced to fund late-term procedures (after the 20th week) done for any reason the woman desires. It is important to note that late-term abortions are not being committed solely for health reasons, as is often suggested by abortion proponents and the media.

In New Mexico, undercover audio calls to a late-term abortion facility revealed that facilities in the state will advise women to seek a Medicaid (taxpayer) funded abortion when:

there is nothing wrong with “the pregnancy” and the woman no longer wants the baby

when the baby has Down syndrome

when a minor is impregnated by an adult male predator

Time and again, Live Action News has documented that tax dollars actually increase the number of abortions the taxpayer is forced to finance, many of which are repeat abortions. Reports from the abortion lobby, which tends to see everyabortion as “medically necessary,” reveal the exact same thing.

A recent survey conducted by the Guttmacher Institute revealed that women who have taxpayer-funded abortions tend to have more abortions. It also revealed that the majority of those women were using contraception when they became pregnant. In addition, Guttmacher, which is funded in part by taxpayers, found that Black women had a higher rate of prior abortions.

Guttmacher Prior Abortion Survey

A report published by the pro-abortion Reproductive Health Investors Alliance, available on the Tara Health Foundation website, showed that the percentage of abortions by payment, funded by taxpayers in states that do not cover abortions via Medicaid, was just 1.5 percent. However, in the Medicaid coverage states, that figured jumped to 52.2 percent.

The report includes a graph of taxpayer-funded abortion percentages by state from Guttmacher:

Number of abortions that are tax funded (Image credit Guttmacher inside an Oct 2017 report from Tara Health) Foundations)

Number of abortions that are tax funded (Image credit Guttmacher inside an Oct 2017 report from Tara Health) Foundations)

A Live Action Newsoverview on how tax dollars fund abortions by state references a report showing that the state of California’s Medi-Cal program paid for more than 83,000 abortions in a single year. In Minnesota, taxpayer-funded abortions recently increased almost 11 percent, with Planned Parenthood committing the largest portion, despite a record low number of abortions nationally. In Alaska, abortions recently declined 5.5 percent overall, while the percentage of taxpayer-funded abortions increased from 32.8 percent to 44.1 percent in just one year.

Funding abortions increases the number of abortions and increases the long-term effects a woman will potentially suffer after the abortion. Forcing taxpayers to pay to kill babies is immoral and a poor use of hard-earned tax dollars… and it needs to end. In part two, Live Action News will detail abortion funding in a number of specific states.

A 92-page report on the Tara Health Foundation website should be reviewed by pro-life advocates across the nation, as it details upcoming strategy from abortion supporters, which includes the push for “home use” abortions. Live Action News has previously covered how the philanthropic Foundation is behind funding RU-486 pills on college campuses in California and behind propping up the abortion chain Whole Woman’s Health while it battled safety regulations in Texas.

The “US Reproductive Health Investment Case” report from October of 2017 was put together by the “Reproductive Health Investors Alliance… to determine the most effective opportunities to improve access to reproductive health services… using both philanthropy and impact investments.” The report’s stated goal? “To increase the supply of and demand for… contraceptive and abortion services.”

TARA Reproductive Health Investors Alliance Goal

Reproductive Health Investors Alliance Steering Committee

The report includes statistics and analysis from “ANSIRH, the Guttmacher Institute, Ibis Reproductive Health, and the Kaiser Family Foundation.”

Live Action News previously reported that ANSIRH’s founder, the late abortionist Felicia H. Stewart, was a physician on staff with more than one Planned Parenthood, and is credited with the introduction of the “Plan B” pill. She also led the push for midwives and nurse practitioners to commit abortions in California and served on the boards of NARAL Pro-Choice America and the National Abortion Federation.

… specific demographic groups (18-19 year olds, Black [WOC] and Hispanic women, and low-income women) that lag behind the national average in their rates of contraceptive use, the efficacy of contraceptives used and timing of abortion.

Live Action News has documented time and again that minority groups, which have a disproportionately high rate of abortion, are the target of the population control movement.

As Live Action News has documented, the report states that, “~50% of abortions are repeat abortions (460K abortions/year)” and it defines “woman” as those “in need of high quality contraceptive and abortion services” though the report “acknowledge[s] that this is a vast simplification.” The report also adds, “The term ‘woman’ does not describe the identity of all persons who can get pregnant; conversely, not all those who identify as a woman can get pregnant.”

TARA Reproductive Health Investors Alliance legislative strategies

Pro-abortion legislative and litigation strategies suggested in the report include:

REMS removal strategy (This is the risk management system that governs the abortion pill RU486)

162 abortion providers closed down between 2011-2016. Only 21 abortion facilities opened during the same period.

An estimated 16 abortion facilities close each year due to financial challenges.

As of 2008, 97% of nonmetropolitan counties lacked an abortion provider.

There are an estimated 2,300 to 3,500 CPCs in the U.S. while there are only 1,800 abortion facilities.

Pregnancy resource centers outnumber these facilities 2:1.

Cost and difficulty getting malpractice insurance for independent providers is one of the biggest financial challenges for already resource strapped abortion facilities.

Viewing an ultrasound may contribute to a small proportion of women with medium or low decision certainty deciding to continue the pregnancy.

More than a third of Planned Parenthood’s budget comes from Medicaid, putting Planned Parenthood at risk if Medicaid funding is blocked.

The report proves the length abortion supporters intend to go to in order to guarantee the “right” to end the lives of tiny humans persons in the womb. And it clearly shows the impact that pro-life legislation, pro-life activism, and pro-life pregnancy centers are having on the abortion industry.